Status of women in India

Population

• As per Census 2011, India’s population was 121.1 Crore with 48.5% female population and the total population is expected to reach to 152.2 crore during 2036 with a slightly improved percentage of female population (48.8)
• The Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011-2036 indicates that in 2011, 60.7% of India's population fell within the working age range of 15-59 years. This percentage is expected to increase to 64.9% by the year 2036. 
• India's population in 2036 is expected to be more feminine compared to the 2011 population, as reflected in the sex ratio which is projected to increase from 943 in 2011 to 952 by 2036, highlighting a positive trend in gender equality.
• In 2011, the sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) at all India level was 943 and the same for rural and urban areas are 949 and 929 respectively.  Sex Ratio at Birth for the country has gone up by 3 points to 907 in 2018-20 from 904 in 2017-19.
• The Sex ratio in case of rural areas is expected to increase from 949 in 2011 to 969 in 2036 whereas in urban areas it is expected to hover around 929 with a decline to 926 in 2036. A lower sex ratio in urban areas than rural areas can be attributed to migration of males from rural to urban. The only States/UTs with a favorable sex ratio in 2011 are Kerala and Puducherry
• The sex ratio for 0 - 19 age group was 908 while that of 60+ age group was 1033. The sex ratio in the economically active age group (15 - 59 years) was 944. As per Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011-2036, the sex ratio (females per 1000 males) in 2036 is expected to be more favourable to women compared to the 2011. 
• Sex ratio in the age group 0 - 6 years has increased in rural from 906 in 2001 to 923 in 2011. However, the ratio has a decline in urban area in the same period.
• The mean age at marriage has slightly gone up from 22.1 years in 2017 to 22.7 years in 2020. For rural areas, it has increased from 21.7 years to 22.2 years while in urban areas it has increased from 23.1 to 23.9 years.
• As per National Sample Survey (July 2011 - June 2012), 11.5% households in rural areas and 12.4 % households in urban areas are female headed households.

Health

• It is evident that from 2016 to 2020, Age Specific Fertility Rate in the age group of 20-24 and 25-29 has reduced from 135.4 and 166.0 to 113.6 and 139.6 respectively. The ASFR for the age 35-39 for the above period has increased from 32.7 to 35.6 which shows that after settling in the life, women are thinking of expansion of family.
• Even though the adolescent fertility rate (15-19 years) showed a random trend but the rate being 11.3 in 2020 is a concern to be addressed through awareness and augmentation of existing policies and programs, considering that ASFR is the most sensitive fertility index.
• The ASFR in the age group of 15-19 years, i.e. adolescent fertility rate was 33.9 for illiterate population, whereas 11.0 for the literate in 2020. This rate, obviously, is zero for graduates and above and considerably lower for even those who are literate but without any formal education (20.0) as compared to illiterate women reemphasising the importance of imparting education to women.
• The mean age at marriage has slightly gone up from 22.1 years in 2017 to 22.7 years in 2020. For rural areas, it has increased from 21.7 years to 22.2 years while in urban areas it has increased from 23.1 to 23.9 years.
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was 2.3 in 2016 and 2.0 in 2020. In rural areas, TFR has reduced from 2.5 to 2.2 while in urban area it has reduced from 1.8 to 1.6. TFR was high for illiterate women both in rural and urban areas, higher among rural illiterate women and statistics reveal that improvement in educational level lowers the TFR.
• The life expectancy has reached 68.6 and 71.4 years for males and females respectively during 2016- 20 and is expected to reach 71.2 and 74.7 years respectively by 2031-36.
• India has successfully achieved the major milestone of bringing down its MMR (97/lakh live births in 2018-20. The rate is already below 70 in eight States.
• Female IMR had always been higher than that of male but in 2020, both were equal at the level of 28 infants per 1000 live births. 
• The under 5 mortality Rate (U5MR) has decreased from 43 in 2015 to 32 in 2020. So is the case for both boys and girls and the gap between boys and girls has also reduced. 
• As per the NFHS 2019-21 (NFHS-5), the percentage of women who had at least four AnteNatal Care (ANC) visits during their pregnancy was 58.5 %.
• While 62.4 percent of mothers received postnatal care from a doctor/nurse/LHV/ANM/midwife/ other health personnel within 2 days of delivery in 2015-16, the percent rose to 78 during 2019-21.
• While in 2015-16, 78.9 percent of deliveries took place in health institutions and among the births that took place in home, 4.3 percent were attended by skilled health personnel, in 2019-21, the figures on the same parameters were 88.6 percent and 3.2 percent respectively
•  During 2015-16, 53.2 percent of non-pregnant women aged 15-49 years were anaemic which increased to 57.2 percent during 2019-21. Among pregnant women aged 15-49 years, 50.4 percent were anaemic during 2015-16 which rose to 52.2 percent during 2019-21. 
• As per NFHS-5, female sterilization remains the most popular modern contraceptive method. Among currently married women age 15-49, 37.9 percent use female sterilization, followed by male condoms (9.5%) and pills (5.1%).
• As per NFHS-5, during 2019-21, 38 percent of males and 8.9 percent of females above the age of 15 years used tobacco.
• As per the NFHS -5, 22.9% of males and 24% of females in the age group 15-49 years were found to be obese.  Proportion of adult male who are obese (BMI = 30.0) increased from 3% in 2015-16 (NFHS-4) to 4% in 2019-21 (NFHS-5). Similarly, in adult females, the proportion increased from 5.1% to 6.4% during the same reference period.
• As per NSS 75th round (July 2017- June 2018) on Household social consumption on Health, the percentage of persons that reported as ailing (PPRA) in last 15-days period is 13.5% (Female) and 10.1% (Male) in urban areas, while the same percentage is 9.9% (Female) & 8.0% (Male) in rural areas.

Literacy and Education

• As per Census 2011, the literacy rate at all India level was 72.98% and the literacy rate for females and males are 64.63% and 80.9% respectively. During the last decade, the highest improvement in literacy rate was observed for rural females (24%).
• At primary level, GER was recorded at 103.4 in 2021-22 which indicates that India, in principle, is able to accommodate all of its primary school-age population, but does not necessarily mean universal primary education.
• GER of female child has always been higher than that of male child at primary level from 2012-13 onwards. A decreasing trend can be seen in GER as we move to higher levels of education viz. Upper primary, secondary and higher secondary in case of both males as well as females. Female GER at higher secondary level was 58.2 in 2021-22 (39.4 in 2012-13). Further, there is not much difference in GER of male and female population at higher education level.  At this level, during 2021-22, GER of female was recorded at 28.5 which was slightly more that male GER of 28.3. 
• The percentage of Male population of age 25 years and above with at least secondary education successfully completed increased from 58.7 in 2019-20 to 60.0 in 2020-21.
• in higher education, enrolment of female out number that of male in Arts, Science, Education, Medical Science and Social Science. In medical Science, while female enrolment is higher than that of males in most of the fields but the major difference is reflected because of nursing. Female enrolment lags behind the male enrolment in Commerce, engineering, IT& Computer, Management and Law. In engineering the difference in enrolment is quite striking as female enrolment is just 41 percent of that of male enrolment.
• Dropout rate has been considerably decreased in secondary level of education from 21% in 2013-14 to 13% in 2021-22 and it is interesting to see that drop out rate of female from secondary education has been slightly lower than that of males over the years but has been higher than that of males in Upper primary level.
• As per NSS 75th Round (July, 2017- June, 18), only 8.3% of the females of age 15 years & above by highest level of education have successfully completed graduation and above level of courses. While 12.8 % of males of age 15 years and above by highest level of education, have successfully completed graduation and above level of courses. 
• As per NSS 75th Round (July, 2017- June, 18), only 4.5 % males and 3.1 % females are pursuing technical/professional courses. In urban, 8.3 % of male and 6.3 % females are pursuing technical/professional courses.
• The number of females per 100 males in University education in major disciplines was highest in Medicine (157.1), followed by Arts and Social Sciences (111.6),  Science (89.1), commerce (85.9) and Engineering & technical (38.7).
• From 2012-13 to 2021-22, number of female teachers per 100 male teachers at primary level increased from 100 to 126. At higher levels also, a similar trend was seen. However, representation of female in tertiary education teachers is quite low at 41.6 % as per 2021-22 data.

Participation in Economy

• Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) results indicate that the worker population ratio for females in rural sector was 17.5 and 51.7 for males in 2017-18. In Urban sector, the ratio is 14.2 for females and 53.0 for males. In both rural and urban areas, WPRs for females were considerably lower than WPRs for males.
•  It needs to be highlighted that unemployment rate is the maximum for urban females in the 15-29 years’ age group followed by urban males in that age group
• Labour Force Participation Rate - LFPR of the persons aged 15 years and above has been increasing from 2017-18 onwards for both male and female population. However, LFPR of female population is far behind than that of male population in the age group of 15 years and above (78.5 for males and 37 for females in 2022-23) and the disparity has remained almost the same over the years
•  In 2022-2023, Worker Population Ratio (WPR) was 54 in rural area and 55.6 in urban area for male population but 30 & 18.7 respectively for female population.
• Average wage/salary earnings received by female workers of regular wage/salary employees is still lagging behind the average earnings received by male workers in both rural and urban areas. Similar trend was also observed in average earnings received per day by casual labourers engaged in works other than public works. Average wage of women is lower than that of men and the disparity is more in urban than in rural areas. This disparity is found in all occupations.
• Percentage distribution of Workers according to broad employment status, in rural area major proportion of males (58.8%) and females (71%) were self-employed and least were engaged in regular wage/salaried employment. 
• At All-India level, male population of age 6 years and above spent 67 minutes in unpaid activities, 240 minutes in paid activities and 1133 minutes in residual other activities (self-development/ self-care/ self-maintenance etc.) while female population spent 305 minutes in unpaid activities, 56 minutes in paid activities and 1079 minutes in residual other activities. Approximately 81% of females dedicate around 5 hours daily to unpaid domestic services. This
  percentage is still higher at 92 for the age group 15-59 years. Even within the 60+ age group, 78% of women contribute to unpaid domestic services. In the 15-59 age bracket, only 29% of males participate in unpaid domestic services. The proportion of women providing unpaid caregiving services is twice that of men, with rates at 33% and 16% respectively.
• In the 15-29 age range, there is a significant decrease in the percentage of individuals participating in learning activities, regardless of location or gender. Nevertheless, in the 15-29 age group, urban females spend an average of 429 minutes per day on learning activities, compared to 448 minutes for their male counterparts
• As per the data of Basic Statistical Returns of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India, in rural area 37.03 percent of the bank accounts are held by female population while in SemiUrban, Urban and Metropolitan areas, the percentage is around 34%. However, the proportion of amount held therein is greater in case of metropolitan females at 32.77% than that of female population of other areas.
• As per data of Periodic Labour Force Survey, among the officials working at managerial positions in India, 18.8% were women in 2020 and 18.1% in 2021

Participation in Decision Making

• The percentage of women representation in Central Council of Ministers has decreased from 17.8 % in 2015 to 13.7 % in 2023. The passage of the
  Women’s Reservation Bill by the Govt. of India represents a significant milestone for women empowerment in India
• There were 471.54 million women electors in 18th Lok Sabha Election (2024) which had increased from 437.8 million in 17th Lok Sabha Elections (2019). 
• In the 18th Lok Sabha, 14% of the total members are women (78 out of total seats).
• Women voter turnout in 2024 recorded 66 % during 2024 as compared to earlier elections - 65.6% in 2014 and 67.2% in 2019.
• At all India level, the women participation in the State Assemblies was 11% against the total elected representatives in the State Assemblies. 
• Pertaining to the year 2023, in Supreme court of India, out of 33 judges sitting in the office, only 3 are women. In high courts also, only 14% of the
  judges are women.
• As per the Udyam Registration Portal (URP) of the Ministry of MSME, women-owned MSMEs constitute 20.5% of the total number of MSMEs registered on the Portal since its st inception in 1 July 2020. These womenowned MSMEs’ contribution to the employment generated by the total Udyam registered units is 18.73%, involving 11.15% of the total investment. The contribution of the women-owned MSMEs to the total turnover of Udyam registered  SMEs is 10.22%. As per the data on Udyam Assist Platform (UAP) which registers Informal Micro Enterprises (IMEs), the contribution of women-owned IMEs to the total number IMEs (since inception of Udyam Assist portal on 11.01.2023) is 70.49%, and their contribution to employment is 70.84%.
• The total number of Start-ups recognised by DPIIT since inception (Jan 2016) till Dec’23 is 1,17,254. Total number of Womenled Start-ups (Startups having at-least 1 woman director) recognized by DPIIT since inception till Dec’23 is 55,816 which constitutes 47.6 percent of the total Start-ups.
• In 2024, at all India level, 1.4 million women are serving as elected members of Panchayati Raj Institutions / Rural Local Bodies, constituting 46% of the total elected representatives of PRIs.
• Percentage of Female Police Officers in India is a meagre 7.02.

Social Obstacles in Women’s Empowerment

• On examination of the data for the years 2017 to 2022 it can be observed that three major crimes viz. Cruelty by Husband and Relatives, Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty and Kidnapping & Abduction constituted more than 70% of the total crime committed against women with the rate of Cruelty by Husband and Relatives faced by women in their own house accounting for one-third of all crimes. 
• One-third of the women in the country are facing violence from their husband. Percentage of ever married women age 18-49 years who have ever experienced emotional, physical or sexual violence committed by their husband, however, has marginally decreased from 33.3% in 2015-16 to 31.9% in 2019-21 but it is still quite hig.
• As per the latest data published by NCRB, 71% of the total cases for investigation were disposed by the police
• As per NFHS, the percentage of women aged 20-24 years married before age 18 years has decreased from 26.8 in 2015-16 to 23.3% in 2019-21. Prevalence of child marriage is more than 40% in Bihar, Tripura and West Bengal and between 30 to 40 percent in Assam and Jharkhand. 
• From 2004 to 2011, the ratio of male to female suicide incidence remained constant at 1.8 but from 2012 onwards, it started rising and reached at 2.6 in 2021.
• As per the NSS 76th survey, percentage of differently abled person was 1.9% for females and 2.4%for males.

Source : Women and Men in India-2023

Related resources

• Progress of the World’s Women
• Report of the High Level Committee on Status of Women in India 2015